FarmerDave wrote:Is it advisable to "oil" an old bamboo rod, and if so, with what.

Is it advisable to oil a new bamboo rod, or at lest a bamboo rod with a new finish, and if so, with what?

Bamboo is a wood like material. It requires a finish to protect it from the elements.

There are three types of protection that I am aware of, a varnish coating, impregnated and oil finish.

Neither an impregnated rod nor a varnished rod will benefit from an oiling. A rod with an oil finish will benefit from an oil treatment just as any other wood object with an oil finish.

Recommended oils are boiled linseed and tung, but others may work as well. Stay away from "tung oil finish" and the like, these are a mixture of oil and varnish and do not look good when treated as an oil.

Dave,Old rods or varnish can be polished with rottenstone with an oil-soaked rag or beeswax and you can use car polish this will help bring back the luster. New rods you can wipe them down with lemon oil.

I use Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax on all my bamboo rods. It is a clear paste wax my father had used for many years so I saw no reason to change. A very small amount buffed with a soft cloth after drying to a haze results in nice shine. I only apply when putting rods up for storage.

Posted on: 2013/11/7 22:29

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Bamboo is a wood like material. It requires a finish to protect it from the elements.

There are three types of protection that I am aware of, a varnish coating, impregnated and oil finish.

Neither an impregnated rod nor a varnished rod will benefit from an oiling. A rod with an oil finish will benefit from an oil treatment just as any other wood object with an oil finish.

Recommended oils are boiled linseed and tung, but others may work as well. Stay away from "tung oil finish" and the like, these are a mixture of oil and varnish and do not look good when treated as an oil.

All that is needed is a drop or two rubbed on the rod.

It's grass not wood.

BLO will offer almost zero protection. Almost impossible to tung with out additives, thus almost all tung oils are "tung oil finish". They look perfectly fine, the only theoretical concern would be cracking if the varnish element is too high.

Agreed, if one has an non-varnished bamboo rod and wants to make is shiny pretty a quick and light wipe of BLO is all you need.

edit: Dave, yeah put whatever you want on it to make it pretty. If you sealed it then have at it. Pledge (omg did i just say that??!) will work just as well on any finished, sealed surface. But, you know bamboo people have to have traditions and what not.

If it's a varnish finish or impregnated, just wipe it down real good and put her away. Plenty of folks wax 'em, but if the varnish is sound it seems kinda redundent to me and is mostly for show, the waxing doesn't really add much in the way of protection.

Not sure about maintaining a tung oil finished rod though, won't have to worry about that until I build out the blank that's sitting in the rack. It'll be finished with tung oil for ease and simplicity, so I guess I'll know sometime in the future..

I agree with what has been said. No real reason if the finish is good. It is important to clean them up once in awhile but what you really need is to make sure they are clean and dry after each use..I wipe my Bamboo Rods with a clean dry cloth after each use before placing them back in the tube. Often I will then take them out of the tube when I get it home for a day or so before storing until the next trip.

If one now has a splintered fracture on a tip section, what epoxy is best for gluing it back together?

It was a sad walk on Friday back to the car to get the backup plastic rod.

I probably still have some slow curing stuff still around, but have had it about 15 years and I don't know the shelf life.

Epon something. It is not completely severed. Basically, it looks like it started delaminating just above the ferrule on the tip section and then it splintered when trying to lightly tug loose a snag. When I rebuilt the rod over 10 years ago, I sealed it well. But the blank was I'm guessing late 40s, early 50s vintage... Old enough that the dark adhesive was used to glue the strips together but more than likely post WWII Japanese due to the lower quality (likely milled only).

It felt funny occasionally on the last several cases. Unfortunately I only glanced at it, saw nothing obvious, so I kept using it.

DAMMIT! I have a lot of money into this rod. I'd say at least 70 bucks.

FarmerDave wrote:Rather than start a new thread, I have a new question.

If one now has a splintered fracture on a tip section, what epoxy is best for gluing it back together?

I am not an expert in this area, but I would think that modern PVA glue would hold it together for at least another 100 years. Epoxy is messy, PVA cleans up with water. You would want to clean off the old failed glue first.